Sold! Sold!Sold! – Rolex Officers WW1 Trench Watch – Silver Half-Hunter Flip Top Case – Patented Dial -1917c

General Description: 

This is a rare Rolex Silver Officers Wristwatch, which has a Half-Hunter Case, with a Flip Release button at 6pm. It is signed Rolex & W&D and has a London Import Mark for 1917c.

The 15 Jewel Movement is a 13 lignes Rebberb, which was made by Aegler & Cie., and is in very good condition. It is running very well; keeping almost perfect time and is stamped Rolex, 15 jewels.The plates are decorated in beautiful circular graining.

The 28mm dial is stamped depose (patented) and looks like it was made specifically for this watch, which has an unusually large crystal on the cover of 18mm in diameter. It is in very good condition, but the reflective radium coating on the numerals and hands has faded.

The Silver Case measures 38mm in diameter (including crown)  and 40mm to the solid lugs. It is in very good condition, with just the usual wear marks. It is signed as shown and bears SN 807960 and is stamped .925, with a London Import mark for 1917c. The cover closes tightly and flips to full opening at 90 degrees, when the button is pressed. The back is the screw on style. It is fitted with an 12mm red/brown leather strap, which measures 180mm overall –  (Ref. ACC305)

This is a very nice WW1 Rolex Wristwatch to add to your Collection and comes to you directly from a large Irish Watch Collection, which was assembled over the past 40-50 years. It is Priced at €2,450 open to offers.

This is a superb Rolex, not many of which were made in the early years after the Company was Incorporated, as records show that only 25,000 were sold by the early 1920’s.This movement is the 15 Jewel Rebberg made by Aegler SA, with whom Rolex had a very close association in the early days and later became its manufacturing arm. It was Aegler who registered the name Rolex as a Trade Name for Watches in 1913.

Extract from Wikipedia :

“Alfred Davis and his brother-in-law Hans Wilsdorf founded Wilsdorf and Davis, the company that would eventually become Rolex SA, in London, England in 1905.Wilsdorf and Davis’ main commercial activity at the time involved importing Hermann Aegler’s Swiss movements to England and placing them in high-quality watch cases made by Dennison and others. These early wristwatches were sold to jewellers, who then put their own names on the dial.

See David Boettcher’s scholarly article at the following link :

http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/myrolexpage.php

For more information about Rolex see Kathleen Pritchard : Pages R54 to R69

The S&H Worldwide is by Fedex at a cost of €85 to €115, depending on destination of sale.

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